Dynamic criticality far-from-equilibrium: one-loop flow of Burgers-Kardar-Parisi-Zhang systems with broken Galilean invariance

Burgers-Kardar-Parisi-Zhang (KPZ) scaling has recently (re-) surfaced in a variety of physical contexts, ranging from anharmonic chains to quantum systems such as open superfluids, in which a variety of random forces may be encountered and/or engineered. Motivated by these developments, we here provide a generalization of the KPZ universality class to situations with long-ranged temporal correlations in the noise, which purposefully break the Galilean invariance that is central to the conventional KPZ solution. We compute the phase diagram and critical exponents of the KPZ equation with $1/f$-noise (KPZ$_{1/f}$) in spatial dimensions $1\leq d < 4$ using the dynamic renormalization group with a frequency cutoff technique in a one-loop truncation. Distinct features of KPZ$_{1/f}$ are: (i) a generically scale-invariant, rough phase at high noise levels that violates fluctuation-dissipation relations and exhibits hyperthermal statistics {\it even in d=1}, (ii) a fine-tuned roughening transition at which the flow fulfills an emergent thermal-like fluctuation-dissipation relation, that separates the rough phase from (iii) a {\it massive phase} in $1< d < 4$ (in $d=1$ the interface is always rough). We point out potential connections to nonlinear hydrodynamics with a reduced set of conservation laws and noisy quantum liquids.Comment: 29 pages, 11 figures, 1 table, 54 references, v2 as publishe

Fluctuations of imbalanced fermionic superfluids in two dimensions induce continuous quantum phase transitions and non-Fermi liquid behavior

We study the nature of superfluid pairing in imbalanced Fermi mixtures in two spatial dimensions. We present evidence that the combined effect of Fermi surface mismatch and order parameter fluctuations of the superfluid condensate can lead to continuous quantum phase transitions from a normal Fermi mixture to an intermediate Sarma-Liu-Wilczek superfluid with two gapless Fermi surfaces -- even when mean-field theory (incorrectly) predicts a first order transition to a phase-separated "Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer plus excess fermions" ground state. We propose a mechanism for non-Fermi liquid behavior from repeated scattering processes between the two Fermi surfaces and fluctuating Cooper pairs. Prospects for experimental observation with ultracold atoms are discussed.Comment: as accepted to Phys. Rev. X; 10 pages, 10 figures, 75 reference

Umklapp Superradiance from a Collisionless Quantum Degenerate Fermi Gas

The quantum dynamics of the electromagnetic light mode of an optical cavity filled with a coherently driven Fermi gas of ultracold atoms strongly depends on geometry of the Fermi surface. Superradiant light generation and self-organization of the atoms can be achieved at low pumping threshold due to resonant atom-photon Umklapp processes, where the fermions are scattered from one side of the Fermi surface to the other by exchanging photon momenta. The cavity spectrum exhibits sidebands, that, despite strong atom-light coupling and cavity decay, retain narrow linewidth, due to absorptionless transparency windows outside the atomic particle-hole continuum and the suppression of inhomogeneous broadening and thermal fluctuations in the collisionless Fermi gas.Comment: Revised version, as accepted to Physical Review Letter

Continuois Time Contests

This paper introduces a contest model in which each player decides when to stop a privately observed Brownian motion with drift and incurs costs depending on his stopping time. The player who stops his process at the highest value wins a prize. Applications of the model include procurement contests and competitions for grants. We prove existence and uniqueness of the Nash equilibrium outcome, even if players have to choose bounded stopping times. We derive the equilibrium distribution in closed form. If the noise vanishes, the equilibrium outcome converges to - and thus selects - the symmetric equilibrium outcome of an all-pay auction. For two players and constant costs, each player’s profits increase if costs for both players increase, variance increases, or drift decreases. Intuitively, patience becomes a more important factor for contest success, which reduces informational rents

Gambling in Contests

This paper presents a strategic model of risk-taking behavior in contests. Formally, we analyze an n-player winner-take-all contest in which each player decides when to stop a privately observed Brownian Motion with drift. A player whose process reaches zero has to stop. The player with the highest stopping point wins. Contrary to the explicit cost for a higher stopping time in a war of attrition, here, higher stopping times are riskier, because players can go bankrupt. We derive a closed-form solution of the unique Nash equilibrium outcome of the game. In equilibrium, the trade-off between risk and reward causes a non-monotonicity: highest expected losses occur if the process decreases only slightly in expectation

Universality in antiferromagnetic strange metals

We propose a theory of metals at the spin-density wave quantum critical point in spatial dimension $d=2$. We provide a first estimate of the full set of critical exponents (dynamical exponent $z=2.13$, correlation length $\nu =1.02$, spin susceptibility $\gamma = 0.96$, electronic non-Fermi liquid $\eta^f_\tau = 0.53$, spin-wave Landau damping $\eta^b_\tau = 1.06$), which determine the universal power-laws in thermodynamics and response functions in the quantum-critical regime relevant for experiments in heavy-fermion systems and iron pnictides. We present approximate numerical and analytical solutions of Polchinski-Wetterich type flow equations with soft frequency regulators for an effective action of electrons coupled to spin-wave bosons. Performing the renormalization group in frequency -instead of momentum- space allows to track changes of the Fermi surface shape and to capture Landau damping during the flow. The technique is easily generalizable from models retaining only patches of the Fermi surface to full, compact Fermi surfaces.Comment: 46 pages, 13 figures, typos fixed; as accepted to Physical Review

Dual QED3 at "NF = 1/2" is an interacting CFT in the infrared

We study the fate of weakly coupled dual QED3 in the infrared, that is, a single two-component Dirac fermion coupled to an emergent U(1) gauge field, but without Chern-Simons term. This theory has recently been proposed as a dual description of 2D surfaces of certain topological insulators. Using the renormalization group, we find that the interplay of gauge fluctuations with generated interactions in the four-fermi sector stabilizes an interacting conformal field theory (CFT) with finite four-fermi coupling in the infrared. The emergence of this CFT is due to cancellations in the $\beta$-function of the four-fermi coupling special to "NF = 1/2". We also quantify how a possible "strong" Dirac fermion duality between a free Dirac cone and dual QED3 would constrain the universal constants of the topological current correlator of the latter.Comment: 21 pages, 8 figures; v2 minor typos fixe

FFLO strange metal and quantum criticality in two dimensions: theory and application to organic superconductors

Increasing the spin imbalance in superconductors can spatially modulate the gap by forming Cooper pairs with finite momentum. For large imbalances compared to the Fermi energy, the inhomogeneous FFLO superconductor ultimately becomes a normal metal. There is mounting experimental evidence for this scenario in 2D organic superconductors in large in-plane magnetic fields; this is complemented by ongoing efforts to realize this scenario in coupled tubes of atomic Fermi gases with spin imbalance. Yet, a theory for the phase transition from a metal to an FFLO superconductor has not been developed so far and the universality class has remained unknown. Here we propose and analyze a spin imbalance driven quantum critical point between a 2D metal and an FFLO phase in anisotropic electron systems. We derive the effective action for electrons and bosonic FFLO pairs at this quantum phase transition. Using this action, we predict non-Fermi liquid behavior and the absence of quasi-particles at a discrete set of hot spots on the Fermi surfaces. This results in strange power-laws in thermodynamics and response functions, which are testable with existing experimental set-ups on 2D organic superconductors and may also serve as signatures of the elusive FFLO phase itself. The proposed universality class is distinct from previously known quantum critical metals and, because its critical fluctuations appear already in the pairing channel, a promising candidate for naked metallic quantum criticality over extended temperature ranges.Comment: 3+1 figure